A website builder is a content management system designed to make it easy for people with limited programming skills to build effective websites.

You can create great results with the likes of SquareSpace, Wix, Weebly and others. For some this is an easy and often affordable way to get a website up and running.

A website built this way is integrated into the website hosting provider’s system. So, although a user friendly interface is available for you to build your website, the website you create cannot be extracted or downloaded and moved elsewhere (SquareSpace seem to be the only exception to this currently where you can download and export your website as a WordPress website). So if you have a Wix website and want to move it to a new hosting provider, you simply won’t be able to. Unlikely as it seems, but what if your website provider goes down or goes out of business? Which is why we prefer to use WordPress and Drupal.

What is a content management system or CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System. A long time ago, we built websites a page at a time, line by line of html code, these are now called Static websites. Large static websites have gone the way of the dinosaur, but for small websites, one-pagers these can be the simplest way to get a site up and running, rather than a sledgehammer to crack a nut with a fully fledged CMS system.

The solution to creating more complex websites efficiently, even for programmers to manage content, (especially with ecommerce websites where there can be thousands of products and categories). Plus a way for non programmers; people that run companies and their staff could update their content without having to pay a developer, meant cheaper website overheads if the website is easy to update by all.

The first CMS systems were created by developers many years ago. Each was individually created for each site, these are often referred to as Custom CMSs. One issue with custom built CMS websites is support. If a new website developer takes on a site there can be a thousand ways it was built, so in the event there is an issue it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack to resolve, which is a big worry if the website has been compromised or is just plain broke.

Eventually the first open source CMSs appeared in the early 2000s.

WordPress and Drupal are what we specialise in but there are many more. The beauty of an open source CMS is worldwide support. If a large community of people are using them then there are a large number of people with a vested interest in support and security. So there are a large number of website developers specialising in building and supporting those systems. WordPress and Drupal are two of the most popular website CMS which is why we use these platforms for our customers.

You can also download and move open source CMS systems and move your site to a new hosting provider to get a better deal or better features.

You own the content of Drupal and WordPRess. They come under the GPU licence, which means even if the code is changed by a website developer they cannot claim ownership. Why is this good? Well, if another developer takes on your website site, the original developer can’t claim it’s theirs or prevent changes being made to the code. Giving you the website owner or website developer’s client the freedom to move from one developer to another or hosting provider to get the better deal.

Drupal and WordPress puts you in control of your website.

If you’d like to read more about how we get you empowered with an effective website have a look at ours at polyspiral.com

Here’s are some testimonials from clients we've worked with using our supportive and friendly approach with these powerful platforms:

‘I would strongly recommend Polyspiral. We have worked together on a couple of website projects, and Polyspiral is always friendly, positive, helpful and has the happy knack of being able to translate technical issues into language that even the most IT-challenged can understand’

‘Thanks to Polyspiral we have set up our new website for our new business wholesaling honey and beeswax cosmetics. Polyspiral are regularly in contact to check if we need any help as our business grows and making suggestions to help us raise our profile. Lovely having someone knowledgeable and friendly so local. Thank you Polyspiral x Julie & Kevin of stourvalleyapiaries.com